If you’re planning a multi-activity break for 2010, put adventure-packed Iceland top of your shortlist. The country’s name may be synonymous with winter, but this beautiful, barren island really comes into its own in spring and summer, says Kate Pettifer.
A glut of great activities to try, and plenty of daylight in which to try them: venture to Iceland between April and October and it’s amazing how much you can pack into a short break.
We covered six activities in just five days – assisted by 24/7 daylight, traffic-free roads and a diverse landscape of mountains, glaciers and beaches.
Go in June or July for the best of the light. Even in high summer, the ice holds firm, meaning you can enjoy traditional winter pursuits without the frozen temperatures.
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Sportsister picks six sports activity breaks
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Ride a pony through the pumice
My plane landed an hour ago and I’m already clip-clopping through the lava fields on a placid Icelandic pony. Ishestar riding centre will pick you up from Keflavik airport and take you straight to the stables at Hafnarfjörður. It’s not your typical arrival activity, but it makes sense geographically, before you head into Reykjavik.
Responding instantly to a dig of my heels, my blonde steed picks up the pace into a tolt – a kind of prancing trot that’s unique to the Icelandic breed. Riding through the lava landscape, dotted with purple lupins and firs – the Bláfjöll mountains in the distance – it’s hard to believe I haven’t checked into my hotel yet.
Info: A Twilight tour with Ishetar riding centre in Hafnarfjörður costs around £27; tel +354 555 7000; www.ishestar.is.
Spot a minke from midships
‘Two o’clock-two o’clock-two o’clock,’ trills the lookout with the loud hailer from her vantage point above the deck of our sizeable cruiser. She’s not telling the time urgently, but directing the gaze of clusters of cagouled tourists towards the sleek black hump of a minke whale breaching the sea’s steely surface. On our whale-watching tour out of Reykjavik harbour, we’ve been graced with near-perfect sea conditions.
Along with our tally of several minke, we spot dolphins and puffins. Cups of coffee and toasted sandwiches provide a welcome warm-up in the cabin, and there are padded boiler suits you can borrow for free if your own clothes aren’t warm enough.
Info: £40 for three hours; Elding, Ǽgisgarður 7, Reykjavik; tel +354 555 3565; www.elding.is.
Raft a glacier-fed river
Wearing wetsuits and splash jackets, we’re rocking along a boulder-strewn track, in what can only be described as an American school bus painted Rasta red, gold and green. Along with nine other fellow rafters and a pro at the helm, I’m being taken to the start of our beginners’ rafting ride on the Hvítá river, one hour north-east of Reykjavik.
The water’s warmer than you might fear, at 10ºC or so, and, as we set off, I soon find myself more interested in keeping hold of my paddle and tucking my elbows in as we slide across stretches of no more than Grade II rapids, perilously close to unrelenting rock banks. Mid-journey, we moor up, scramble up a cliff and plummet from its precipice into the water below – an added adrenaline hit on this fun 90-minute jaunt.
Info: A River Fun tour, with pick up, costs £34; Arctic Rafting; tel +354 562 7000; www.adventures.is.
Hike the Southern Highlands
‘What do you do if you find yourself lost in an Icelandic forest?’ says Arnie, our mountain guide. ‘Stand up!’ This national joke may mock the lack of established forests in the country, but thickly wooded hills is about all that’s missing on our 24km hike to Thorsmörk over the Fimmvörðuháls mountain pass. We start in Skógar, where grassy plains with sea views give way to waterfall-veined mountains, then scree-strewn ridges and plateaux.
The route rises up to 1000m from sea level, as you cross the snow fields between two glaciers. As you cross the final ridge before descending to Thorsmörk, you find yourself among wild flowers in Alp-like scenery – your goal the riverine, (short) tree-dotted valley below. This is a long but easy walk, at the end of which we stay at the Básar mountain hut (www.utivist.is/english; from £11), and return to Skógar with a super-truck, arranged by our guide.
Info: Guided walking tours, price on application; Mountain Guides, tel +354 587 9999; www.mountainguides.is.
Climb a glacial wall
Ice climbing on the Sólheimajökull glacier is really a twofold activity, as you have to master the short hike up the ice to the climbing site itself before you get vertical. Our guide has equipped us with helmets, gloves, crampons and picks and talked us through the wide, flat-footed gait that will help us traverse the ice without incident. This being summer, the glacier is no pristine white snowscape but a silt-peppered lunar landscape where grey-black volcanic dust helps stop the ice from melting.
Arriving at the scene of our climb, our beginner ice wall may offer a kind incline, but it’s steep enough for a first-timer still to feel nervous. I am secured to a safety rope by my climbing harness, and begin my climb. I reach with one arm, then the other, to secure a higher position with each ice axe before releasing each foot to kick another crampon-hold into the ice. Five limb-jellifying sequences later, I am at the top, shaken but happy.
Info: Ice climbing, around £40; Mountain Guides, tel +354 587 9999; www.mountainguides.is
Off-road by the blue lagoon
Before you sink into the steaming turquoise depths of the Blue Lagoon, earn your soak with a guided ATV tour. Kitted out with a helmet, gloves and padded boiler suit, we take a quad bike between two (sharing the driving is advisable, as steering one of these is tiring on anyone’s arms).
We set off from the depot on tarmac roads – easy enough – before breaking left onto a rubble track, parallel to the road. The small rocks and mini potholes here prove to be a warm-up for the steep inclines, beefy boulders and chunky contours of the circuit ahead. At the top of a hill, we stop to admire the lagoon views – a surreal addition to this already otherworldly rocky landscape.
The return leg takes us past washed up ships, rusting where the sea has left them on the Reykjanes peninsula. Only the Arctic terns, dive-bombing us in protest as we vroom past their nesting site, seem to inhabit this eerie, deserted scenery. The only thing scarier is biking back down steep hills, hoping our traction and brakes won’t be overtaken by gravity.
Info: The Panorama tour costs around £73 with ATV Adventures; tel +354 857 3001; www.atv-adventures.com
Kate Pettifer, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
Photo credit: Is Hestar
